Good Friday: Good Thursday

Thursday night’s Cause/Affect event (conceived and sponsored by AIGA San Francisco) drew do-gooders from all corners for a celebration of good design. Cause/Affect is a biannual design competition that celebrates design undertaken for the greater good. Two years ago we made a strong showing with winning entries in three categories, and contributed to the winning collaborative project Oprah has one. This year we took home an award for our Everything is OK poster in the politics category, while MINE™ designer Tim Belonax received judge’s recognition for his shirt for Rosa Loves (the Rosa Loves organization will be featured in the book). Friends of MINE™ Volume, MOD and Hybrid Design also took home honors, and Academy of Art University made an extraordinary showing, sweeping the student awards category.

causeaffect

Besides showing up to receive our awards, the rewards of the evening were threefold: First of all, it was a wonderful night of hobnobbing with do-gooder pals Michael Osborne (Joey’s Corner), Phil Hamlet (Director of the MFA program at the Academy of Art), Mick Hodgson (the ‘dapper Brit’ from Ph.D.), Brian Dougherty (Celery Design) and my former editor at STEP, Tom Beiderbeck, whose faith and feedback on my writing has propelled me to this point. I also enjoyed meeting some good-doing young upstarts with whom I’m sure to remain friends.

Second, I got to scope out some really excellent design work for a range of critical causes. Needless to say we’ll be reaching out to the designers of many of these projects for inclusion in the book.

Third but perhaps most importantly, I planted yet another seed with organizers Alice Bybee and Matt Cooke in regards to contributing their thoughts to the book. Matt and Alice have done a remarkable job of conceiving, building and maintaining the Cause/Affect competition, which caters to the very soul of the design community. Efforts like theirs speak also to the soul of this book, and I hope they will be sharing their story in their own words.

The Cause/Affect exhibition is on view at AIGA’s Stutter Street Gallery.